China prepares to grow vegetables in space

4 Dec 2012, 7:16 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Chinese astronauts could one day grow fresh vegetables on Mars and the Moon after researchers successfully completed a preliminary test, state media report. (AAP)

Chinese astronauts could one day grow fresh vegetables on Mars and the Moon after researchers successfully completed a preliminary test, state media report. (AAP)

China is working on ways for astronauts to grow vegetables and produce oxygen in space, state media report.

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Chinese astronauts could one day grow fresh vegetables on Mars and the Moon after researchers successfully completed a preliminary test, state media report.

Four kinds of vegetables were grown in an "ecological life support system", a 300-cubic-metre cabin. The aim is for astronauts to develop their own stocks of air, water and food while on space missions.

The system, which relies on plants and algae, is "expected to be used in extra-terrestrial bases on the moon or Mars", Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Participants in the experiment could "harvest fresh vegetables for meals", Xinhua said Deng Yibing, a researcher at Beijing's Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre.

"Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extra-terrestrial bases in the future," the report said.

China has said it will land an exploratory craft on the moon in 2013 as part of an ambitious space program that includes a long-term plan for a human moon landing.

The Asian superpower has been ramping up its space activities as the United States, long the leader in the field, has scaled back some of its programmes.

In its last white paper on space, China said it was working towards landing a person on the moon - although it did not give a time frame.

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